Issue103 rt860113--Hamming小组第七次

rt860113UID: 2256886

TOPIC: ISSUE103 - "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our dailylives."
WORDS: 560          TIME: 0:51:05         DATE: 2007-1-4(欢迎批评指教)

The question of whether the study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives or not deserves more consideration. A process of the study of history itself might be called a process of creating history since historians with more or less prejudice have always recorded history. Although the value of studying history has a great deal to do with our daily life, it is somewhat opinionated to state that there are no other values in the study of history.

Without doubt, by studying history we can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas,wars, races, which are indirectly relevant to our daily lives, even pencils and computers which are closely relevant to our quotidian lives. An exclusivereliance on current data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace unless we use historical materials? How can we understand genius, the influence of technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in shaping family life, if we don't use what we knowabout experiences in the past? Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our mostvital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. This, fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history: it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply to run their own lives.

Moreover, we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the wishful thinking school of historical interpretation. It is too clean. If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that evil things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist which is relevant to our daily lives. Of course, we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect. "History teaching by example" is one phrase that describes this use of a study of the past—a study not only of certifiable heroes, the great men and women of history who successfully worked through dilemmas, but also of more ordinary people who provide lessons which we extract to avoid repeating the former mistakes.

History itself has a history which is an arresting field to explore. In other words, the study of history itself can befun. Those taking the study of history as their pursuits are only interested in those glorious heroes and events of the past rather than with more pragmatic goals like a promising job and monetary benefits. History as art and entertainment serves a real purpose, on aesthetic grounds but also on the level of human understanding. Stories well done are stories that reveal how people and societies have actually functioned, and they prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places.

Although the study of history has value toa great deal extent that it is relevant to our daily lives, it is not onlywithin the everyday lives. The study of history dictates an indispensable character, a character called as “objective” which is to be overlooked if weover emphasize its pragmatic values.

[ 本帖最后由 rt860113 于 2007-1-4 23:30 编辑 ]

hugo010311UID: 2237388

The question of whether the study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives or not deserves more consideration. A process of the study of history itself might be called a process of creating history since historians with more or less prejudice have always recorded history. Although the value of studying history has a great deal to do with our daily life, it is somewhat opinionated to state that there are no other values in the study of history.
（让步开头）
Without doubt, by studying history we can study anything for the simple reason that everything has a history: ideas, wars, races, which are indirectly relevant to our daily lives, even pencils and computers which are closely relevant to our quotidian lives.（为什么是铅笔和电脑呢） An exclusive reliance on current data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace unless we use historical materials? How can we understand genius, the influence of technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in shaping family life, if we don't use what we know about experiences in the past? Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. This, fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history: it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply to run their own lives. （深刻）

Moreover, we study history so that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. This is the wishful thinking school of historical interpretation. It is too clean. If we have learned from the past then over the centuries we ought to have accumulated so much knowledge that evil things like war, poverty, injustice and immorality ought not to exist which is relevant to our daily lives. Of course, we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect. "History teaching by example" is one phrase that describes this use of a study of the past—a study not only of certifiable heroes, the great men and women of history who successfully worked through dilemmas, but also of more ordinary people who provide lessons which we extract to avoid repeating the former mistakes.（要有例子就好了，历史教训挺好找的）

History itself has a history which is an arresting field to explore. In other words, the study of history itself can be fun. Those taking the study of history as their pursuits are only interested in those glorious heroes and events of the past rather than with more pragmatic goals like a promising job and monetary benefits. History as art and entertainment serves a real purpose, on aesthetic grounds but also on the level of human understanding. Stories well done are stories that reveal how people and societies have actually functioned, and they prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places. （很深刻）

Although the study of history has value to a great deal extent that it is relevant to our daily lives, it is not only within the everyday lives. The study of history dictates an indispensable character, a character called as “objective” which is to be overlooked if we over emphasize its pragmatic values.

很不错，加油！

[ 本帖最后由 hugo010311 于 2007-1-6 11:36 编辑 ]

rt860113UID: 2256886

哈哈，谢谢批改！关于铅笔和电脑的例子其实是想从“直接”来跟前面的三个“间接”进行照应，不过确实用的有些随意，不严谨。

[ 本帖最后由 rt860113 于 2007-1-7 01:21 编辑 ]